FAVORITES
The new UBB winger scored his 31st, 32nd and 33rd tries against Namibia in the blue jersey on Thursday evening at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille. A hat-trick which allows him to overtake Philippe Saint-André (32) to take third place on the podium for the best scorers in the history of the French XV. Second place – Vincent Clerc, 34 tries – is within reach of acceleration given the current pace of Damian Penaud. And the record, held by Serge Blanco (38 tries)? To reach it during this World Cup, he would need to score five more tries. That’s 9 in total. What no player has achieved at an edition of the World Cup, Jonah Lomu, Bryan Habana and Julian Savea sharing the record with 8 tries. But given Damian Penaud’s current pace – 28 tries in his last 30 matches, those under the Galthié era – nothing seems impossible. Incidentally, against Namibia, he became the first French player since Vincent Clerc (against Canada in 2011) to score a World Cup hat-trick. As a reminder, at just 26 years old, last March he became the best try scorer in the history of the French XV in the Six Nations Tournament: 12, surpassing Vincent Clerc (11). Finally, for good measure, Penaud became the first player to score more than 10 tries in a calendar year since Philippe Saint-André in 1995. In 2023, he is already at 12. PSA’s total 28 years ago …
On the Vélodrome lawn, Charles Ollivon stood out this Thursday. In all the good moves, the Toulon flanker scored two tries in his particular style of running and support. He took the opportunity to register his 15th and 16th tries in the blue jersey. The former captain of the French XV, before the armband was entrusted to Antoine Dupont, thus became the French forward having scored the most tries for the French team, erasing from the shelves the record he co-held until then with Olivier Magne, former glorious third row of the Blues. Two players who share the same space devourer profile. “We wanted to be serious and diligent,” he said. During the week, we worked on the middle of the field because we knew that there would be spaces, then, in the corridors. Spaces into which the Tricolores have rushed. And which Charles Ollivon took advantage of to write the history of the XV of France.
Never has the French XV scored so many points in an official match. These 96 units exceed their previous record, dating from 2007: 87-10, already against Namibia. Another record to be broken, that of the number of points scored at half-time: in this case 54 (8 tries). For the anecdote, in June 1974, the Blues, who had gone on tour to Argentina, stopped in Brazil for a friendly match against the Auriverde national team… awarding no cap because it was contested by a “France XV” selection. A match however played by the ”real” Blues, authors of 18 tries! Including a quadruple from Racing winger Jean-François Gourdon, triples from Bagnères center Roland Bertranne and Brive winger Laurent Desnoyer, or even a double from Jean-Claude Skrela. Final score, 99 to 7. Three points more than against Namibia…
CLAW STRIKES
All the players recognized it afterwards: despite the historic victory signed this Thursday against Namibia, everyone had in mind the jaw injury suffered by their captain Antoine Dupont. It’s difficult to celebrate the greatest success in the history of the Blues when the best player in the world is on the sidelines. “There are some very good things happening this evening (Thursday) but we are all looking forward to hearing from Antoine. We’re crossing our fingers that it’s not too serious,” hoped full-back Thomas Ramos. And another of his teammates in Toulouse, pillar Cyril Baille, confided: “We know the importance that “Toto” has in the group, what he gives off. You all know the relationship I have with him, it’s like a brother. It sucks. When we see the images, it’s quite a violent shock…” The great celebration in Marseille was clearly spoiled by this new problem which struck one of the Blues. The most emblematic, the most essential…
The images are chilling. Johan Deysel’s tackle seriously hit Antoine Dupont in the head in the 45th minute of play. A scare immediately (and logically) invaded the wings of the Stade Vélodrome. And on social networks, the Namibian center was immediately the target of violent insults. Whether on his Instagram or Stupid and mean. His bad gesture was obviously not intentional and he was excluded for it. “This gesture is commensurate with the poor rugby player that you are,” is one of the many stupidities that we have read. Always easy to utter such insults hidden behind your screen and a pseudonym…
The typical team from the 3rd nation in the world against a selection made up largely of amateur players, the imbalance was announced. Faced with such a difference in level, the Blues did the job, had fun, revised their ranges but not enough to draw any real lessons from it. Namibia lost its 25th World Cup match out of 25 played. Conceded another card after the 71 to 3 against the All Blacks a week ago. And they can do even worse, since they have the record for the heaviest defeat in the history of the World Cup: a 142-0 against Australia in 2003. In the end, a training session with live ammunition for the Blues , undoubtedly more tired after the high intensity ones that they deliver between them.
